Way Out West

Far out rock-and-roll with sex symbol Mae West!

"Come on up and Rock with me," coos old-time sex star Mae West on the cover of this Tower Records release. Way Out West is one of the quintessential "non-musician celebrity makes an album" records, with West stumbling through a series of rock tunes including Day Tripper, You Turn Me On, Nervous, Boom-Boom and my personal favorite, Twist and Shout. And when they said "Way Out", they meant it: Mae West appears here completely in character, applying liberal amounts of her usual schtick to all of these songs, often forgoing the real lyrics in favor of the purrs and slogans for which she is famous. I say that's far out.

Mae West aside, Way Out West is a suprisingly solid rock album. The band, identified in the liner notes as "Somebody's Chyldren", delivers exceptional covers with an authentic garage-rock feel, mixed down with a wide stereo separation reminiscent of early Beatles releases. The stark contrast between that sound and Mae West's persona only makes the result all the more ridiculous.

Album liner notes were never known for their modesty, but producer David Mallet must have had his gall meter turned up to the max when he wrote, "It is singularly appropriate that Mae West should be recording an album of rock 'n roll hits". Goes to show you how far men will stoop for a little cleavage.

Robert Amaya
(robert.amaya@phoenix.gov)
says:
I remember buying this, after listing to it I tossed it in the trash, the only thing worth something was the insert of pictures and all those muscle men.
(05-15-2003)

eedeecee
(clercq3@zonnet.nl)
says:
if you think "Way Out West" sucks then check out Mae's version of 'Hard to handle' from the OST 'Myra Breckinridge'?Otis Redding would turn in his grave butMae West rules!! Compliments for my new favorite website,next to showandtellmusic that is...eedeecee
(05-05-2003)

Sir Droopy Drawers
says:
Greetings to All, I just returned from France! Frankly, they can keep it. Those damn french "brag" how they don't fart, but (as they put it) "toot". Well TOOT this! This is a crazy, mixed up world we live in. If the french want to help the War effort, then they can save all there "toots" and toot downwind towards Iraq! Then we should drop this record over Iraq, and watch Saddam either surrender or commit suicide. Both logical solutions in my opinion after listening to this piece of "Tootage". So too all the French, "Toot" away. Please excuse me, as my asylum awaits for me.
(04-06-2003)

jason
says:
she might be sexy at the time if she wasn't like 80...
(03-26-2003)

Kitty Twitty
(none)
says:
Well, at least she sings ON KEY unlike some of the other "greatly awful" singers e.g. Mrs Miller and the legendary Florence Foster Jenkins (see http://www.brumm.com/realaudio/alternative/jenkinsnotes.htm)

John Michaelson
says:
My God what piece of shit record. I need a copy of it for my radio show to freak the listeners out! Well, it worked with Mrs. Miller's record!
(01-02-2003)

Jeremy West
says:
Mom knew how to bridge that gap of generations. Umm, occasionally.
(12-29-2002)

Moo
says:
Mae West and "Mrs. Miller" were separated at birth.........
(12-13-2002)

Lao
says:
I listened to a Jimi Hendrix documentary on NPR that mentioned he was a studio musician on a number of albums, including an album with Mae West. Could this be the album?
(11-22-2002)

Denny Spangler
(PO_Box9847@webtv.net)
says:
LOL- I made a dub of "Twist & Shout" and took it to work to play it for some friends. I told them, I got this awesome lp (which it *is*) on eBay (btw-$8, nm condition, with booklet intact) and they had to hear it. On the opening notes, they seemed to like it- *then* the vocals kicked in. "My God..." was the only repeatable reaction I got.
(09-20-2002)

Joseph Gallant
(notquite@hotmail.com)
says:
Believe it or not, Mae West's version of "You Turn Me On" might have been a hit record had Ian Whitcomb not recorded it a couple of years earlier. Incidentally, Whitcomb's version is one of my all-time favorite records.

Unlike some other exhibits here, this is actually fun to listen to.
(08-20-2002)

Eric
(librarianeric@yahoo.com)
says:
I used to work at a record store in San Diego called Off The Record. When Husker Du did an instore appearance there back in the mid-80s, Bob Mould actually bought this album!
(08-01-2002)

Richard
says:
This was definitely not one of Mae's better endeavors.
(04-08-2002)

Schraff
(laschraff@hotmail.com)
says:
If you think this is horrifying, you've never seen Sextette, one of the later wacky sex comedies West starred in. Even though she was clearly starting to mummify, she played the lusty object of desire across from Ringo Starr, among many others. Check out the appropriately scathing review: http://www.jabootu.com/sextette.htm
(03-29-2002)

Dosifei
(dosifei@hotmail.com)
says:
This...is...not that bad. Honestly, except for "Twist and Shout" (which is godawful), the other two clips aren't bad at all. There is a voice there. If you understand the Mae West schtick, the songs are pretty well done.
(03-06-2002)